The second time around
by Professor Pang
Summary: AU story, all human. Carlisle and Esme are married to different people with children of their own. They both want away from their separate marriages. What happens when they meet? Lame summary. Rated for talk of abuse.
1. Esme

I hurried over the front yard as fast as I could. I almost ran until I was before my own front door, yet I was afraid to enter. But I had to.  
As I hurriedly stepped over the threshold, two small bodies collided with my legs, and I immediately dropped my bags and knelt down to hug my children tightly. Rosalie was crying quietly and Jasper was hiding his face in my neck. I pressed them as close to me as possible and squeezed my eyes shut as I heard him approach.  
"Two little bastards you've raised. Just as bad as you, both of them."  
I opened my eyes to see my _dear_ husband Charles looking down at us with a hateful expression on his face.  
Normally I would never leave my children with their father if I had a choice. He'd made me. Any other day I would bring them with me when I had to go grocery-shopping while he was at work, but today he'd requested that I do it after he came home and leave them with him. I'd been devasted, but what choice did I have? I'd finished my shopping in record time and returned home filled with fear. Who knows how much he'd managed to harm my babies? They were only three years old, for heaven's sake! I was able to stop him from touching them on most days - receiving more and more hits, punches and kicks every time - but what had he done when I wasn't there to stop him?  
He grabbed his jacket from the coathanger. I detected the direction his foot was taking just in time and yanked Jasper out of the way. I hissed when it hit my ribs instead. Charles let out an annoyed sound and slammed the door shut after passing through it.  
I could feel both Rosie and Jasper relaxing, and my heart broke for both them. I let Rosalie keep her hold on me as I started examining Jasper.  
His arms were full of bruises, and a big one, the size of a football, was visible on his back. Tears filled my eyes as I hugged him again, careful not to touch any of the hurt areas.  
Rosalie was up next, and she was off even worse than her brother. Her little torso was covered in tiny bruises and I was certain I didn't want to know how they got there. After more hugging and crying, I brought them into the bathroom, where I gave both of them a bath before dressing them in their pajamas. It wasn't bedtime yet, but I didn't know how long Charles was going to be out, and I wasn't taking chances. Being able to get the kids into bed after hearing his car pull up before he came in was golden.

**AN: My new AU baby. This is so short, but that's because it's just a "starter". The upcoming chapter will be short as well, describing Carlisle's situation, but then they're gonna be longer. Reviews are wonderful!**


	2. Carlisle

**AN: I'm updating fast! Yay me! Can I have more reviews for it? I love the ones I've gotten though, cookies to you all.**

Carlisle approached his front door with a sigh, both relieved and tense. He was both eager and reluctant to enter his house. Eager because there were his children. Reluctant because there was his wife.

Sarah Cullen was nice enough on the outside, but behind locked doors she was nothing but pleasant. Carlisle hadn't experienced this until they were married and pregnant, unfortunately. Their firstborn, Emmett, was now four years old. Two years later they had decided to try and mend their relationship by having another baby. To Sarah, Alice was just something she had to keep her from having to give up all the nice things her husband's salary gave her.

Carlisle couldn't believe he'd married someone that shallow.

To Carlisle, Alice was an angel. Both his children were everything their mother wasn't, thank God.

When he entered, Emmett met him at the door with an enthustiatic hug. Carlisle threw him in the air and recieved a tingling laugh in return. Keeping Em on his hip, Carlisle went to find Alice, sleeping in her crib. He kissed her forehead and went into the kitchen to find his wife cutting up vegetables. "You shouldn't baby him like that," she told him without looking up.

Carlisle rolled his eyes subtly and put Emmett down on the floor. "Why is that so bad?"

"Because he won't learn to do things on his own."

"I'm away from him almost all day, why can't I cuddle him when I come home?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "Fine. Don't blame me when he comes to us asking for money in his thirties."

Carlisle looked away. _Like some hugging would make him want money_.

**AN: Next chapter they will meet! Excited? Review!**


	3. The Book Store

**AN: HI MY FAVORITE REVIEWERSSSS. I kinda love how you're all on anon. It's comical (or I'm just easily entertained). Can we have a club?**

**Raye: Sarah and Charles is an interesting idea, very. Ed and Bella will come along in time, don't worry.**

**Guest-who-said-I-can't-wait-for-them-to-meet: Here you go!**

**Lexi: Thanks, and I agree!**

The next day was Saturday, which meant that Charles had left for his fishing weekend. The rare times he did this was golden to me. It meant that the kids and I could go wherever we wanted without it was the bookstore – not that I had a lot of time to read, but we needed more bedtime stories.

I had just caught Jasper – he had ran after an old lady, aiming to steal her walking stick – when I turned back around, him squirming around in my arms, and saw that Rosalie had made a new friend. She was standing in front of the kids' books, the ones about cars, talking animatedly to a boy who looked about her age, if slightly bigger. He was cute, with dark curls and plump cheeks. Jasper had caught sight of them too, now squirming to get over there. I put him down and he ran over, to immediately get included into the conversation by his sister. I smiled at the three of them and looked up to see if the boy's parents were there as I approached them slowly.

Just behind them stood a blond man, holding a small dark-haired girl in his arms. I smiled at him. "Is he yours?"

He looked up at me with a smile, and I had to bite back a small gasp. He looked gorgeous. "Yes," he said with a proud note to his voice. "And those are yours, I suppose?" He nodded towards Rose and Jazz.

I nodded slightly, and he smiled. "How old are they?"

"Three," I said lovingly. "They're twins. Yours?"

"This one's two," he said, indicating the sleeping beauty in his arms. "And he's four. Terribly proud about it too."

I laughed. "Don't tell them, they're thrilled to finally be three."

He laughed too, and his eyes glittered beautifully, before he looked alarmingly startled. "Where are my manners?" He situated his daughter on his left arm as he stretched out the other one towards me. "I'm Carlisle Cullen, nice to meet you."

_Carlisle_. It fit him very well, though unusual. I met his hand with mine, surprised by the gentleness of it. Maybe I was just used to Charles' rough hands, though. "Esme Evenson, nice to meet _you_." How I wished I was still named Platt... though without Charles, I wouldn't have my babies. That was the only good he'd ever done, though.

He nodded slightly and let my hand go. I strangely missed it. I nodded towards my children. "And these two are Jasper and Rosalie."

He latched on. "And Jasper and Rosalie are talking to Emmett. This is Alice."

I smiled at the sweet girl. Alice. "It fits her."

He nodded again and looked down at our chattering children with an amused smile. "If we let them go on I doubt we will ever get to leave."

_You won't be hearing any complaints from me_, I thought darkly. Rather that than coming home to Charles. But I made myself laugh anyway. "Doubtlessly."


	4. The Playground

Rose, Jazz and Emmett had talked us into letting them meet again at the playground on the very next day. So Carlisle and I (we had come to first name basis very quickly) were sitting on a bench, keeping an eye on them while talking casually. Today Alice was awake and had joined their game of tag.

"So, Esme, what do you do for a living?" he asked me easily after the usual talk about the weather.

"I don't work, I'm a housewife. I would like to though, I always wanted to be an architect."

"What's stopping you?"

His eyes looked so sincere when he asked. Like he was genuinely worried about me not doing what I wanted.

"My husband has a rather old-fashioned view on women's place in society," I said diplomatically. "I'm happy though, I wouldn't want to be anywhere but with my kids."

His eyes softened. "I know what you mean," he said as he watched Alice starting to tickle Jasper. "I'm a doctor, though. My wife doesn't work either, due to her own reasons, but the kids go to kindergarten because she wants to be able to have alone time."

I wasn't supposed to judge her from this, but she sounded bad to me. What kind of woman sent her kids to kindergarten when she could be with them herself? "That's understandable, I suppose. Two kids are rather a handful."

"Yet _you_ keep up with two without kindergarten-breaks."

I shrugged. "I won't say it's easy, because it isn't, but I love them to death and I would do anything for them, whether it's playing tag until I can't breathe any longer or..." _Or to place myself between them and Charles_. "Anything, really."

He was looked at me with an admiring look in his eyes. "That's amazing. That you can do it all, I mean. Every day. I only take care of them alone when my wife goes away for weekend trips with her friends, and it always drains me."

I laughed. "You get used to it. And I never have any troubles falling asleep." In a sense, yes. When I knew I was alone, I was ready to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I always worried that maybe Charles would come home unexpectedly. And when he _was_ home I worried about what he would do when I'd fallen asleep... or before.

Carlisle threw his head back and laughed. He really looked wonderful with that brilliant smile on his face. His wife was, if "bad", a very lucky woman.


End file.
